2012 Tour de Brunei | Stage 4: Kuala Belait – Bandar Seri Begawan

Time bonuses from winning today’s fourth and longest stage elevated Terengganu Cycling’s Mohd Harrif Saleh onto the GC podium. Race leader Hossein Askari still maintains a 24″ lead over his nearest rival, Duc Tam Trinh of Vietnam, with one day of racing remaining.

Green jersey-wearer Harrif, who also briefly wore the sprinter’s blue jersey in the recent Tour of China, convincingly won the bunch sprint ahead of his teammate and older brother Zamri. It has become a common sight to see the genetically-gifted pair square off in UCI AsiaTour races; indeed, it was only earlier this month that Zamri trumped his brother in the fourth stage of the UCI2.2-ranked Tour de East Java.

Harrif was the biggest mover in the GC top ten, which has seen its fair share of changes in the last 24 hours. Seventh-placed Lee Rodgers (CCN Cycling Team) was forced to pull out due to food poisoning, whilst Amir Kolahdoz Hagh (Tabriz Petrochemical Team) plummeted from 5th to 77th place after losing 4’33” in the 185.3 kilometre stage.

Still, Tabriz was, and is, more concerned with preserving Askari’s yellow jersey. The Iranian super-Continental team – if there were such a category, they’d surely be in it – held court over the peloton, humouring small breakaways until well into the urban sprawl of Brunei’s capital city.

Though the overall, points and young rider’s classifications are far from decided, Maxime Martin’s (OCBC Singapore Cycling Team) rivals in the KOM competition have no hope of overtaking the Frenchman who, with one KOM and four points remaining, needs only to roll over the stage five finish line inside the time limit to take home his polka dot jersey.